Trade Secret | Noncompete – Issues and Cases in the News

This post provides a summary of noncompete and trade secret issues and cases that have arisen in the past month or so, but that I have not already addressed in recent posts. In addition to my summary, you will find links for more in-depth reading on each issue. (There’s a lot here, enjoy.)

UPDATED November 24; updates in bold.

UPDATEDNovember 27; updates inbold/italic.

Trade Secret Cases and Issues in the News:

In an extremely significant decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision by the International Trade Commission blocking importation of products from China that were developed using trade secrets that were misappropriated overseas: Tianrui Group Co. v. International Trade Commission. (For a primer on China’s trade secret law, see here; for a brief summary of the focus on misappropriation of trade secrets to China, see here.)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision relating to the intersection between trade secret law and patent law: Atlantic Research Marketing Systems, Inc. v. Troy. A similar issue arose in Texas, with the court reducing from $68 million to $18 million the exemplary damages portion (separate from the $26 million compensatory damages portion) of a trade secret verdict in favor of Wellogix against Accenture. Story here. (For a brief summary of the intersection of patents and trade secrets, see here.)

The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act became was passed on September 16, 2011, and, as part of a sweeping overhaul to US patent law, will expand trade secret defenses to patent infringement actions.

Seagate won a $525,000 trade secret award in an arbitration against Western Digital, which Seagate accused of misappropriating trade secrets through a former Seagate employee. Story here.

Motorola Mobility was sued by Lemko for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets relating to the location of emergency callers on a cellular network. Story hereand here. The case is related to the federal criminal charges brought against the employee, who was headed to China. Story here. (Note the China connection, and see below.)

A blogger accused of trade secret misappropriation can keep his or her identity secret. Story here.

Groupon sued employees who left for Google and who allegedly took Groupon’s trade secrets with them. Story here.

The Uniform Trade Secrets Act has been adopted in some form or another in all states but Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. Of these states, New Jersey is closest to adopting the UTSA. See New Jersey Poised to Adopt the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. The UTSA does leave open questions about the scope of other common law claims that are still permitted. For some discussion on that issue, see here.